Vontobel, the Zurich-headquartered private banking group, has merged two of its German operations - Vontobel Securities in Cologne and Vontobel Europe in Frankfurt – meaning that its private banking, asset management and investment banking activities in the country will now operate as a single entity under the name Bank Vontobel Europe.

The consolidation is an “important milestone in our efforts to target the German market using a co-ordinated approach” and is intended to significantly improve the efficiency of Vontobel’s operations in the country, Frank Wieser, head of Vontobel Germany, said in a statement.

Following the merger, the management board of Bank Vontobel Europe will comprise Wieser as managing director, Alois Ebner, Andreas Heinrichs, Richard Zweng and Matthias Klein. Its three-member supervisory board is chaired by Herbert Scheidt, chief executive of the Vontobel Group.

In other recent developments, at the end of last month Vontobel opened a new branch in Basel, the third-biggest Swiss city in the German and French border area. At the time, Peter Fanconi, head of private banking at the Vontobel Group, said that the region is of key strategic importance in the firm's Swiss private clients business.